Ik begon met iets simpel, een hoesje voor een bril. Voordeel is dat je dit in het rond breit, je kijkt altijd op dezelfde kant. Je moet dus niet nadenken over welke kleur je gebruikt (gespiegeld) aan de achterkant. En het was een goede manier om verschillende technieken van draadspanning te oefenen. Alleen is het veel te groot uitgevallen ,dus totaal onbruikbaar als brillenhoes...I started with something simple, a double knit spectacle case. It has the advantage that it is knit in the round, so you don't have to worry about what color you should use on the backside. It was also good to practise the different ways to tension the yarn. But unfortunately it came out way too big, so it cannot be used as a spectacle case...

Onto the next level. My plan was to knit a Kaffe Fassett inspired scarf with the yellowgolden skein of yarn that I received as a present from my son. Maybe pairing it with neutral colors? But even after a few rows it was clear that this did not work, some of the browns don't provide enough contrast...

Third try: the selfstriping yarn with green Malabrigo. The colors work nice together and the gauge is OK. I am just not sure if I have enough of the green yarn in stash. So I decide to start with a provisional cast-on. If the scarf ends up a bit short, I can graft it together and transform it into a cowl.

Na 3 maand af en toe aan dit project te breien besluit ik uiteindelijk
dat het niet werkt. Op de voorkant zie je de blaadjes wel, maar aan de
achterkant verdwijnt het patroon in iets vaag en onherkenbaar. Ik denk
dat het te maken heeft met het feit dat de blaadjes beginnen met één
kleur aan de onderkant, en dan overgaan in de tweede kleur aan de
bovenkant. After 3 months of on and of knitting on this, I am just not happy with the outcome. The pattern of the leaves is OK-ish on the front, but disappears on the back... I think it has to do with the way the leaves are formed, they start with one colour on the bottom, and change into the second color on the top of the leaf.

Sunday, September 17, 2017

Onze laatste huisruil deze zomer was in Barcelona. We waren er twee weken na de aanslag. De Ramblas lagen nog bezaaid met bloemen en kaarsen....Our last home exchange this summer was Barcelona. We were there two weeks after the attack. The Ramblas were still covered with flowers and candles...
Het is niet onze eerste keer in Barcelona. Daarom beslissen we een 'tweede laag' te leggen, en de minder voor de hand liggende bezienswaardigheden te bezoeken. Het klooster van Santa Maria de Pedralbes is een mooie, rustgevende plek, bereikbaar met het openbaar vervoer.
Telkens als we een museum bezoeken vraagt de gids in mijn gezelschap of ze een Nederlandstalige audiotour hebben? Dat is een beetje een terugkerende running joke, want altijd zeggen ze 'Nee, sorry'; of soms lachen ze ons zelfs uit: Nederlands? Maar hier zeiden ze tot onze verbazing: Ja, natuurlijk. Alsjeblief. Maar dan wel in het Catalaans.This is not our first visit to Barcelona. We decided to add a 'second layer', and visit the less obvious places in the city. The cloister of Santa Maria de Pedralbes is a peacefull, interesting place to visit. You can get there by public transport. We used the busses a lot. They are usually a little less crowded then the subway, and on most routes there is a seperate bus lane, so they don't get stuck in traffic (or less then the cars anyway). And with the app it's easy to find your way around.

The ideal travelling project for me is not too complicated, but with enough different elements, and of course, lightweight. As I made the resolution to finish one project for every workshop I take, I selected this shawl, Pierre de Lune, to travel with me to Iceland and Germany. This is the picture of the pattern, so this is how the final object is supposed to look like....

In München I started doubting. My yarn was going at an alarming rate, and I still had not reached the point where I was supposed to end. And then I dawned on me that I had reading the pattern wrong all the time. The shawl is knit on the diagonal with shortrows. I should have turned two stitches before the double stitch, and I was doing it one stitch before the double stitch. At this point my row should have been 70 stitches shorter already!

After sleeping over it I decided to make it my own creation. I counted the number of rows I still had to knit, and decreased the 70 stitches by making the short rows every 10 stitches. If this did not work out, I could always start over completely...

Een beetje onverwacht belanden we in een wolwinkel. 't Is te zeggen, ik had niet gedacht dat we op het einde van een lange dag nog in de buurt van Thingborg zouden uitkomen, maar toen ik dat zag vroeg ik aan het reisgezelschap of ze het zagen zitten om 28 kilometer rond te rijden...I did not really plan the visit to this woolshop, but at the end of long day I could persuade my travel companions to make a small detour...

Maar ik had dus geen vooropgezet plan van wat ik wou kopen. En dan wordt je overspoeld met indrukken. Zou ik zoals de Ijslandse traditie alleen met de natuurlijke kleuren breien?But I did not have a plan on what I wanted to buy when I entered the shop. Should I do like the Icelandic knitters traditionally do, and knit with the natural colors?

Of toch een handgeverfd garen?Or maybe buy a handdyed yarn?

Uiteindelijk heb ik van alletwee een beetje aangeschaft, genoeg meters voor een kanten sjaal.I could not choose, so bought both in a laceweight, enough for a shawl in non-traditional colors.

I thought there was only one type of Icelandic sheep, but apparently there are lots of different ones. You see them grazing on the most inaccesable spots, and you have to be carefull when you drive, there might one cross the road unexpectedly.

Ik bleef vooral naar haar sjaal kijken, en andere objecten die met wol te maken hadden...Er is genoeg te zien in de verschillende huisjes voor een interessante namiddag. Ik kreeg het patroon mee voor de sjaal, wel in het Ijslands. Met wat breiverstand en een woordenlijst moet dat wel lukken.I was fascinated by her simple, but interesting shawl. The museum is not big, but is interesting enough to spend a leisurely afternoon. I also got the pattern for the shawl. Although it's only in Icelandic, I think I can figure it out with some common knitting knowledge and a knitting vocabulary.

I have one skein of Wollmeise lace in stash, and there is a new mystery knitalong by Vera Sanon. Can I get gauge with this yarn? What needle size do I use? Always exciting, the start of a new project...

I
have several Wollmeise sweaters, but not in laceweight yet. I was still
looking for a good pattern. It makes total sense to knit a laceweight
sweater for summer (although this is not a very summery color…)

The sweater is knit topdown. You start with the shoulders, then the sleeves, and then the body. Especially that last part keeps on going forever and ever. I underestimated how long it takes to knit a sweater in laceweight yarn. So this sweater always gets pushed to the backburner, it's much more fun to knit complicated socks! I comfort myself: this is something I will wear a lot, when it get's finished eventually.

I managed to do the whole sweater in one colour. It’s just long enough
to my liking. But, it looks like I’ll have to redo the i-cord, because
it keeps rolling. When I look up ‘icord curling’, the common sense is
that it’s not the icord, but the large part of stockinette that’s
curling. The advise is to knit a few rows of garter (or rib), and then
finish with icord.I tried it out on the sleeves. Right: with 4 rows of garter, left without garter. Sorry for the dark picture!Hope
this works for the body of the sweater, and then reknit that last
sleeve-edge, and then pick-up stitches around the front and the final
icord. I want this to be finished!

Oef. Dat lijkt te werken. Klaar. Nu nog een badje, en dan opvouwen en in de kast leggen tot een frisse najaarsavond.Sigh of relief. It looks like this works. Done. Now of to bathe the sweater, and then fold it up in the closet for a chilly autumn evening.

Washed...and the sweater grew a bit in lenght
(which is good); but the sleeves also grew (not good, they are really
much too long now). So it looks like this sweater still is not finished, I'll need to perform some sleeve surgery...